The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage - Chapter 265

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 265
265
Flame and frost.
Though the attributes were in extreme opposition, Barseon struck his staff against the ground as if indifferent to such concerns.
Thud.
As the staff’s tip made contact with the earth, vibrations rippled outward.
Countless tendrils of frost coalesced in the empty air, weaving together to form spears.
And as the spear tips began to turn toward Yoo Sung-hyun, Stella’s eyes widened and she thrust her azure-tinged shield upward.
In that instant, Barseon’s gaze wavered as he looked upon Stella.
The spear tips of frost suddenly shifted their trajectories in different directions, and immediately they were unleashed.
As dozens of flashes streaked forth, grayish-blue light scattered across the void.
Stella’s eyes trembled.
She had clearly drawn the aggression to herself, so why were the spears now aimed at every other party member instead?
Unable to comprehend, she cried out urgently.
“Gather!!!”
At Stella’s shout, all the party members who had been about to act separately rushed together.
As the group consolidated into one position, the spears all converged toward that single point, and Stella thrust her shield forward against the grayish-blue spears, releasing her power.
A dome of azure light formed, creating a defensive barrier.
Crash!!!
Clang——!!!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh——!!!
The spears shattered the defensive barrier as easily as sugar crystals.
The exposed party members attempted to use skills to do something, anything, but it was already too late.
The spear blades, flying faster than perception itself, sought to pierce through every one of them.
Yet in that moment, violet light engulfed the world.
Roaring——!!!
Like a fierce inferno consuming the earth, the violet flames spread outward, bleaching everything in their path with radiant light.
The grayish-blue spears wreathed in frost melted away like spring snow beneath the violet radiance, their existence vanishing in an instant.
The party members were utterly startled.
Were they shocked by such exceptional skill?
No.
They had already understood that Yoo Sung-hyun surpassed them.
Then what was the reason for their shock?
‘…We….’
‘…c-can…’
‘do nothing….’
‘Damn it.’
Despair bloomed in everyone’s hearts.
They had just realized they were those who could neither defend against nor even react to that attack.
And only one person here could stand against Barseon.
While the party members were thinking as much.
A sound reached them from behind.
Thud, thud.
Footsteps that seemed to carry an unusual weight.
Yet despite being ordinary footsteps, they resonated distinctly in their ears.
The footsteps, echoing throughout the entire space, gradually drew toward Barseon.
They could see it.
A man stepping forward, radiating violet heat that contrasted sharply with the pale blue chill emanating from Barseon.
Yoo Sung-hyun stepped forward as if to say it was fine.
A man whose level was twenty points lower than theirs.
Yet when he gestured, he became more reassuring than anyone else.
Whoooooosh———!!!
Flames swirled around him as if drawing breath.
The fire coiled through the empty air, circling Yoo Sung-hyun, consuming the space itself as it grew larger like a devouring inferno, eventually taking the form of a dragon.
Meanwhile, Barseon, standing in opposition to Yoo Sung-hyun, tapped his staff against the ground.
Boom——!!!
The resonance echoed low and wide.
The pale blue chill surrounding Barseon condensed in the empty air, crystallizing the atmosphere.
But it was different.
The pale blue energy that should have transformed into ice moved with life, as if a spirit inhabited it, reshaping into the form of a woman.
As that woman—resembling a goddess statue, radiating an almost sacred presence—opened her eyes.
She lunged toward Yoo Sung-hyun, exhaling an ominous ashen light.
At the sight of that phantom-like form, the party members swallowed hard.
Yet Yoo Sung-hyun’s fire dragon began to move as well.
The dragon’s form dove to tear the woman apart, while the woman’s form extended her claws long and rushed forward to rend the dragon asunder.
Whoooooosh———!!!
Screeeeeech———!!!
The infernal dragon consuming all things, its maw wide open to incinerate everything.
The woman’s claws, wailing like a death knell, tearing through the void like a cutting gale.
When the two collided.
Violet and pale blue light merged together, then spread across the world.
A shockwave, pure white as if rejecting any other color, swept through the surroundings in delayed succession.
Boom boom boom———!!!
Against the shockwave hurtling forward with enough force to obliterate the vast lobby entirely, Stella tried to hold it back with all her might, but even that proved insufficient.
“Ugh——!!!”
“Ahhhhh——!!!”
“I-insane——!!!”
“Ugh——.”
All of them were overwhelmed by the shockwave and sent flying backward, colliding with the walls.
The impact was so violent that sound itself seemed to vanish, and the walls crumbled.
Part of the castle crumbled inward.
The shockwave that had bleached the world gradually subsided.
By the time the light faded, I could see that the Lobby, which had existed mere moments before, had vanished from existence.
As sections of the Lich Lord’s Castle collapsed, tearing through ceiling and walls to connect with the outside, the members of Prism Effect could only gape in astonishment.
Yet even amid this devastation, they found it incomprehensible that the section where they stood had maintained the castle’s perfect form.
Only after the light disappeared could they truly understand.
“Did… did you protect us???”
“Hah… hah.”
“Even during combat, you looked out for us…”
“Haha…”
Behind Yoo Sung-hyun, the castle remained remarkably intact.
Though I couldn’t block the entire shockwave, the fact that I’d somehow contained such a cataclysmic force moved everyone present.
Yet the battle was far from over.
Yoo Sung-hyun also furrowed his brow, seemingly perplexed.
Despite holding an overwhelming elemental advantage.
I hadn’t overwhelmed my opponent.
‘Strong.’
So hidden raid bosses truly lived up to their designation.
Formidable.
If I drew upon my other powers in combat, victory would naturally come with ease.
But this time, I didn’t want that.
Hadn’t I resolved to use only the Inferno Lord ability?
This was the perfect opportunity to test its true potential.
With that resolve, I summoned the flames anew.
Meanwhile, Barseon’s gaze grew clouded as he observed Yoo Sung-hyun.
-‘A Lord remains a Lord, after all.’
Barseon had no choice but to acknowledge Yoo Sung-hyun’s strength.
Elemental advantage?
Such trivial matters had never factored into Barseon’s calculations.
My supreme chill should have transcended such limitations.
Yet even with my full power unleashed, extinguishing those flames proved far from simple.
And I sensed it instinctively.
-‘A Lord of Hellfire.’
If I wielded the chill of Hell itself.
Then Yoo Sung-hyun commanded the very flames of Hell.
I could feel it from that collision just now.
But what did that matter?
Now was the time to punish this pathetic Lord who dared violate the Necromancer Lord’s Castle.
-I must demonstrate the power my Lord has granted me.
With that resolve, Barseon drew his chill to its absolute limit.
Simultaneously, countless spears wreathed in ashen-blue cold materialized in the air.
As the spears bloomed endlessly and fired from the void, Yoo Sung-hyun ignited his own flames in response.
Whoooosh——!!!
A wall of violet flame materialized in the empty space.
Not a single ashen-blue spear pierced through that barrier.
The violet flames that consumed all the spears gradually diminished in size, but then surged anew, condensing into a single point before unleashing a violet flash.
Watching the violet flash that pierced through all things, Barseon’s eyes widened.
Yet that was all.
Using ashen-blue energy, he refracted the violet flash, neutralizing the beam hurtling toward him.
Crash——!!!
The refracted violet flash pierced clean through the castle walls before vanishing.
Witnessing this, Barseon couldn’t help but feel a chill.
Had he taken that attack directly, he too would have been pierced through.
Yoo Sung-hyun was equally astonished.
To refract his own flash in such a manner.
The versatility was considerable.
Having thus acknowledged each other’s prowess.
Both unleashed their full power in coordinated attacks.
When ashen-blue light rippled forth, frigid air spread and plummeted the temperature; conversely, when violet flames surged, they melted away all that cold.
Gradually, heat and cold accelerated their assault—one freezing, the other thawing.
“This… what is this.”
“Is… is he really the same type of user as us…?”
“…Wow.”
“I… I can’t even speak.”
The Prism Effect party, witnessing this, could find no words.
The fact that Yoo Sung-hyun was a user like themselves was simply unbelievable.
They even began to wonder if he might be a named NPC instead.
Yet how could that possibly be?
All of them swallowed hard as they watched the battle unfold.
And the battle’s progression showed neither side gaining advantage—it was, quite literally, deadlocked.
Neither gained any benefit, and the exchange took on the character of attrition, each gnawing away at the other’s energy.
One might have expected their power to gradually diminish.
Yet the flames surged and consumed the cold, while the cold invaded the flames and extinguished them.
Crash——!!!
Despite the elemental advantage, failing to overwhelm would surely wound one’s pride.
Yet Yoo Sung-hyun’s expression remained utterly composed.
As though he harbored not a care in the world.
And yet his eyes gleamed brilliantly as he observed the battle, causing Barseon to feel nothing but internal shock.
-‘Growing stronger by the moment.’
A state of perfect equilibrium where neither held advantage.
Yet even as Yoo Sung-hyun grew progressively stronger, he maintained that equilibrium without fail.
Barseon, by contrast, was not growing any stronger, and thus he gnashed his teeth—nothing but bone remaining—as he glared at Yoo Sung-hyun.
-‘Damn it.’
As he grew stronger, what Yoo Sung-hyun did was elegantly simple.
With each increment of power, he deliberately reduced the aura he wielded, bit by bit.
As if to preserve a state of perfect equilibrium.
And as he gradually comprehended the nature of flame while growing ever mightier, Barseon found himself reminiscing of distant ages, his thoughts turning to his own lord.
-‘My lord possessed such qualities as well.’
All lords were uniformly monstrous entities.
This one was no exception.
Observe how he grows through combat itself.
As if mocking me, he tramples upon my pride with contemptuous ease.
Barseon seethed with indignation, yet his mind remained coldly analytical.
Growing stronger now meant nothing extraordinary.
-‘He has possessed this power for scarcely any time at all.’
As the collision of frost and flame caused the domain of ice to recede incrementally, Barseon perceived a truth.
Yoo Sung-hyun had wielded his lord’s power for only a brief span.
Barseon would exploit that weakness.
With eyes blazing a grayish-blue luminescence, Barseon drew his frost to its absolute limit.
One chance alone.
The singular opportunity to overwhelm Yoo Sung-hyun.
Barseon condensed all his power and unleashed it across the surrounding space.
A cold so bitter that even the polar regions could not produce its equal spread outward, freezing all things, and like a domain itself, it consumed the surroundings whole.
The moment Yoo Sung-hyun beheld it, his eyes widened in shock.
How could such sorcery exist?
His expression transformed accordingly.
Barseon cried out.
-Absolute Zero.
A forbidden spell inscribed in the Grimoire of Ruin, now wielded anew in the hands of an ancient Lich, passed down through the ages.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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